diff --git a/sat/plugins/plugin_xep_0045.py b/sat/plugins/plugin_xep_0045.py
index 18a91e4c..875de381 100755
--- a/sat/plugins/plugin_xep_0045.py
+++ b/sat/plugins/plugin_xep_0045.py
@@ -876,7 +876,7 @@ class SatMUCClient(muc.MUCClient):
                 room_jid=room_jid))
             # we don't want the whole archive if we have no archive yet
             # as it can be huge
-            rsm_req = rsm.RSMRequest(max_=50)
+            rsm_req = rsm.RSMRequest(max_=50, before=u'')
 
         mam_req = mam.MAMRequest(rsm_=rsm_req)
         complete = False